CAIR and Al-Qaeda Connected; Does Anyone in Old Media Care?
Posted by Tom Blumer on June 24, 2007 - 12:31.
Note: Though this post is primarily about Ohio's governor speaking at a Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) banquet in Columbus last Sunday, it contains nationally significant info about connections between CAIR, Al Qaeda, and Hamas, and Old Media's non-coverage of those connections.

On Friday ("Strickland-CAIR Update: Reported Strickland Staffer Response"), I noted how staff member "Charles" in Ohio Governor Ted Strickland's office responded in a conversation with a constituent relayed to me by a trusted source. The constituent objected to the governor's June 17 appearance at CAIR-Ohio's annual banquet -- a banquet also attended by CAIR's national chairman of the board. In part, the constituent reported the following:

"Charles of his staff stated that he did a lot of research on CAIR and they were an organization that does a lot of good and no more terrorist than the Jewish Defense Fund or Dr. James Dobson."

That trusted source also talked to Charles and his supervisor later that day. The source got an excuse that Homeland Security had been consulted about the appearance (irrelevant, in my view -- DHS can't tell a sitting governor where to appear and not appear), and little other consolation.

I meant to note this earlier, but I have to assume that Charles is really referring to the Jewish Defense League (JDL; web site; Wiki entry), as there is no "Jewish Defense Fund" I could locate.

Charles' apparent use of JDL as a terrorism benchmark is odd, given that I don't think that any state governor has attended or plans to attend a JDL banquet any time soon.

And Dobson? Evangelical Christians will hopefully take note of what one member of Minister Ted's staff really thinks of one of their top leaders.

But let's get back to CAIR. On Friday at FrontPage (HT Writes Like She Talks [WLST] via e-mail), longtime investigative reporter Paul Sperry published "Al-Qaida Angle Emerges in CAIR-Tied Terror Case."

It's a long read, but suffice it to say that Sperry connects enough dots to leave little doubt that there is both a mutually supportive AQ-CAIR relationship that even includes people associated with 9/11, and active CAIR links to Hamas terrorists.

It started out as an investigation into U.S.-based financing of Hamas terrorist operations, which was bad enough. But as federal investigators developed a matrix of suspects, they discovered a possible 9/11 connection.

The Holy Land Foundation terror case has already touched the top Muslim lobby in Washington -- the Council on American-Islamic Relations -- which U.S. prosecutors recently named as an unindicted co-conspirator.

A former senior CAIR official is among five indicted figures in the major terror-funding case. It turns out he is related by marriage to a key suspect in the conspiracy -- a radical Muslim cleric and activist who authorities have linked to al-Qaida.

In fact, they say the cleric is closely connected to the spiritual adviser to the 9/11 hijackers.

Federal investigators have learned that imam Mohammed El-Mezain -- who goes on trial next month with one of CAIR's founding board members -- once lived in the same small Colorado apartment complex with another imam accused of preparing some of the hijackers for their "martyrdom" operation.

El-Mezain and imam Anwar Aulaqi later moved to San Diego, where Aulaqi held closed-door meetings with the al-Qaida hijackers. The two radical clerics also organized pilgrimages to Mecca together, including one made just months before the 9/11 attacks.

According to federal investigators, El-Mezain likely met Aulaqi in Fort Collins, Colo., around 1990, when the two lived next door to each other.

Investigators have traced El-Mezain's address at the time to 500 W. Prospect Rd. in Fort Collins. Aulaqi also listed an address then at 500 W. Prospect Rd. El-Mezain occupied Apartment 19C, while Aulaqi occupied Apartment 23L, as I first reported in my book, "Infiltration: How Muslim Spies and
Subversives Have Penetrated Washington."

In February 2001, El-Mezain and Aulaqi arranged for American Muslims to go on an "executive-package" trip to the Saudi holy land through a travel agency in Falls Church, Va., a connection also revealed in "Infiltration." The trip itinerary I obtained lists Aulaqi as the "Imam on Trip," with El-Mezain acting as trip adviser.

as far as im concerned c.a.i.r. is a cancer, to any real dialogue on islam, and how to deal with islamo-nazi terror, which is what radical islam actually is. They enable al queda, by silencing anyone, they disagree with, under the guise of being offended. Political correctness is terrorism, against our very value of free speech.

as far as im concerned c.a.i.r. is a cancer, to any real dialogue on islam, and how to deal with islamo-nazi terror, which is what radical islam actually is. They enable al queda, by silencing anyone, they disagree with, under the guise of being offended. Political correctness is terrorism, against our very value of free speech.

What's to comment on? the NewsBuster links supporting the allegations are to FrontPage's story which provides no supporting documentation whatsoever and the <i>New York Sun</i> which is a right wing mouthpiece and provides no documentation to support their allegations. That's not journalism, that's propaganda.

What's to comment on? the NewsBuster links supporting the allegations are to FrontPage's story which provides no supporting documentation whatsoever and the <i>New York Sun</i> which is a right wing mouthpiece and provides no documentation to support their allegations. That's not journalism, that's propaganda.

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